


TV Casualty

by BeveStuscemi



Category: Bully (Video Games)
Genre: Boys Will Be Boys, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 08:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16215389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeveStuscemi/pseuds/BeveStuscemi
Summary: After two weeks at Bullworth Academy, Jimmy had realised the school was akin to a very bad cocktail. It was one part violence, one part fear and stirred well with a good dose of teenage hormones. But the most defining ingredient in the Bullworth cocktail was boredom.Feeling uncharacteristically charitable, Jimmy spends his money on a VHS player and some tapes to liven up the boy's dorm. Of course, this is Bullworth, so it obviously goes wrong.





	TV Casualty

After two weeks at Bullworth Academy, Jimmy had realised the school was akin to a very bad cocktail. It was one part violence, one part fear and stirred well with a good dose of teenage hormones. But the most defining ingredient in the Bullworth cocktail was boredom. Jimmy had quickly noticed that the faces of students were withdrawn and blank as they walked through the school halls and back to their dorms. Perhaps the violence and fear that settled over the school was simply a result of students having little else to do. Sporting equipment was off limits to anyone not on the football team, lessons were taught by drunks and psychopaths, and girls wouldn’t give anyone the time of day unless they were the leader of one of Bullworth’s many cliques. It was unsurprising that students turned to violence as a way to retain sanity.  
But Jimmy intended to put a stop to it.

He had got a name for himself on campus as ‘the errand kid’, someone who was willing to do the dirty work for someone else provided he was paid. Sometimes it was escorting Algie to the toilet, sometimes it was helping one of the younger students with homework but mostly it was bodyguard work. Weaker students were happy to pay ten dollars or more to have Jimmy sit with them at lunch or stand by them in corridors so bullies would think twice before approaching. Though hated by the white-shirted bully clique, Jimmy had beat them enough times to earn their respect which in turn got him customers. Within the two weeks at Bullworth Academy, Jimmy had amassed a grand total of one hundred and fifty-three dollars and had asked Gary and Pete to meet him in the school’s parking lot on Saturday to help him spend it.

The October air was crisp and fresh, and Jimmy shivered in his brown jacket. He had set a specific time for the three to meet and decided the campus was the most convenient place. He was pretty sure Pete lived somewhere in the richer part of town and that Gary just appeared out of thin air when summoned so neither had a particularly long way to travel. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the two strolled in through the parking lot gate.  
“Hey.” Jimmy gave a casual wave to both Gary and Pete with only the latter waving back. Gary looked rather annoyed.  
“Okay, we’re here. What do you want?” He gave a small yawn at the end of his sentence and his black-ringed eyes informed Jimmy that he had minimal sleep. Then again, Gary lived on a diet of energy drinks and Ritalin so sleep probably wasn’t a word in his dictionary.  
“We’re going shopping, gotta get some stuff from town.”  
Pete felt the cold too and zipped up his fleeced coat. “What do you need?”  
“Some stuff from the electronics store,” Jimmy gestured towards the gate. “C’mon I wanna get back.”

The three boys made their way into Bullworth Town, conversation ranging from complaints about the weather, complaints about staff and complaints about students.  
“Fuck, it’s cold today.” Jimmy dug his hands into his pockets to try and warm his hands. Pete nodded in agreement.  
“Yeah, it’s really starting to become Winter now.”  
“And that bastard Burton will still make us run track,” Gary said bitterly. “Like to see him run in shorts in the middle of a snowstorm.”  
Jimmy gave a scoff. “If his precious football team can do it why can’t we?”  
“Because we have too much self-respect to use the communal showers after.” Gary replied, smirking.  
Jimmy laughed. “Yeah, I bet that weird jock drops the soap all the time. What’s his face? Olson.”  
“Is he the one with a foot fetish?” Pete asked, laughing to himself.  
“He’s the one with the everything fetish.” Jimmy said plainly before stopping abruptly. They had made it into the main part of town and Jimmy was now looking for the electronics store.  
“There!” He pointed to a small shop next to the comic store and the boys behind him followed him across the road.

Like most of Bullworth, the store had seen better days. The store logo had mysteriously vanished and the open sign flickered on and off. Jimmy pushed open the door and the alarm above it gave a weak wailing sound.  
“The alarm system’s pretty crap for an electronics shop.” Pete said as his eyes scanned the store. The interior was significantly better with appliances laid out neatly and a very large VHS collection in the corner of the shop. Grinning, Jimmy began to look for the VHS players and within seconds he was greeted by none other than Algie.  
“Hi Jimmy!”  
“What do you want, Algie?” Jimmy really couldn’t be bothered for Algie right now. He’d spent the last fortnight escorting him to and fro bathrooms.  
“Oh, nothing. I like… work here.”  
Gary laughed. “ _You_ work here? Do they give you hour long toilet breaks or something?”  
Algie chuckled nervously. “No but err… hey Jimmy, do you need anything?”  
“Yeah, I do. Where’s the VHS players?”  
Algie gestured to the far side of the store. “We have a few back there. I’ll show you.”  
He led the three to a small selection of VHS players with a triumphant smile. Jimmy picked up the cheapest one which was small and grey.  
“This’ll do,” He turned to his comrades. “Let’s go pick some movies.”

While the store did have a large collection of VHS movies, none of them looked particularly good. In fact, Jimmy had never heard of most of them and assumed they were limited release B-movies.  
“ _Meathouse Massacre Two: Retribution_ ,” Jimmy flipped the VHS to the other side to get a look at the plot, or lack thereof. “ _Cletus McMeatus returns to stab, slaughter and mutilate the teenagers that turned him into mincemeat._ Fuck it, I’m sold.” Jimmy placed the VHS under his armpit and watched as Pete and Gary flicked through the selection. Pete picked up a sci-fi flick.  
“What do you think of this? It’s about an alien invasion.”  
“What’s it called?”  
“ _Grey Men_. I’ve never heard of it.”  
“Whatever, hand it here,” Jimmy put the second movie under his armpit and turned to Gary. “You not done?”  
“I’m stuck between this Roman thing and this one about Vietnamese warfare.”  
“Pass me the Rome one, I want to get back for lunch.”  
Gary handed over the Rome movie, _The Reign of Caesar._ Jimmy sighed inwardly. Gary would probably be wearing a toga some time during the week. He walked over to the counter and put down his four items as Algie began to scan them.  
“Need a bag?” He asked as he sorted the VHS boxes into a tower.  
“No, we want to carry them on our heads. Yes, we’d like a bag, dipshit.” Gary snapped and Algie quickly retrieved a plastic carrier bag.  
“So…err…why are you buying all this?”  
“Spread the word, Algie,” Jimmy said as he handed over the required money. “Movie night in the boy’s dorm tonight at eight. Tell people to bring snacks.”

-

Come eight o’ clock, the turnout was much greater than Jimmy had initially anticipated and he credited this to Pete’s posters placed on campus. He tasked both Pete and Gary in promoting the event while he set up the VHS player but he believed it was Pete’s posters with the colourful font and artistic depictions of a television that won the crowds, not Gary’s half-assed ‘MOVIES @ BOY’S DORM’ written on scrap pieces of card. Regardless, the boy’s dormitory was now very full with students moving chairs from their dorm rooms and into the common room for a better view. The two youngest students sat cross-legged on the floor and a few boys sat on the poker table instead. Jimmy declared the sofa for himself and allowed Gary and Pete to sit either side of him. He found the notion quite funny since he’d just bought a film about Rome and he himself had created his own triumvirate amongst the plebs. Much like a dictator, Jimmy got first pick of the movie.  
“Listen up! I’m about to put the movie on so if you need a piss, go now. Looking at you, Algie.”  
There was a chorus of snickering as Algie hobbled out of the common room and down to the boy’s toilets. Jimmy pointed to Trevor, who was leaning against the wall.  
“Kill the lights, Trevor.”

  
With a quick flick, the common room descended into darkness and Jimmy pushed the VHS into the player. As the tape whirred, the boys in the room let out shouts and cheers. Soon enough, they were greeted by an overly-masculine voice announcing the film’s title  
“ _MEATHOUSE MASACRE TWO: RETRIBUTION!”_   The sentence was punctuated with a scream and the title card was slashed in two, revealing the scene.  
Two teenagers, one male and one female and both dressed in very eighties fashion walked up to an abandoned meathouse in the middle of a field.  
“ _Are you sure about this, Brad?”_ The girl asked in a voice that simply wasn’t convincing.  
“ _Sure baby, don’t you wanna go all the way tonight?”  
_ “He’s gonna bang her in a meathouse?” Came a voice from the back of the common room. Jimmy was pretty sure it belonged to Ricky.  
“And why are all the meatheads called Brad?” Someone else replied.  
The film continued with Brad and his girlfriend getting hot and heavy next to a meatgrinder. A loud noise could be heard from inside.  
“ _Brad, did you hear that?”_ The girl’s voice was light and breathy, a few jokes could be heard about her being asthmatic. Brad, on the other hand, heard nothing.  
“ _It’s just nerves, baby. You need to relax.”_  
“Yeah, just relax in this place where a bunch of cows got slaughtered, sheesh!” Trevor said, shaking his head.  
“Kinda want a burger now.” Hal opined, leaning in closer to the TV. The couple on the television continued to make out until another bang could be heard.  
“ _Brad! I’m scared!”_  
“ _Chill out, Linda. You’re too- OH MY GOD!_ ” A hillbilly zombie with red-raw flesh emerged from the meat grinder, wielding a butcher’s knife. He jumped down and dug his blade into Brad’s skull before chasing a semi-nude Linda across the meathouse. As expected in a B-movie, Linda decided not to run out of the door but rather trap herself on the second floor.  
“You dumbass!” Hal shouted, throwing his arms into the air.  
“Nah, she deserves to get killed for being stupid.” Norton stood next to his friend, rolling his eyes.  
The zombie, revealed to be Cletus McMeatus, decapitated Linda in a fatal swoop and Pedro, the youngest boy in the room, started crying.  
“Shut up.” Gary kicked the boy in the back with the tip of his boot and the boy ran out, sobbing hysterically. Sheldon, his friend, continued to watch but his mouth was agape and colour was drained from his face.  
“Well done, Jimmy. You’ve gave two ten-year olds PTSD.”  One of the nerds clapped Jimmy on the shoulder and he brushed them off.

The movie continued. Another group of teenagers entered the meathouse, only it was to smoke pot rather than have sex.  
“Is there seriously nowhere else for them to do it? No basement or attic or anything?” Davis asked, arms folded.  
“Like _you_ know anything about weed.” Came a reply from Dan, a small jock.  
“Actually, my dad was arrested for possession so yeah, I think I do!” Davis looked at some of the faces staring up at him. “What?”  
For the next forty minutes, Cletus McMeatus continued his crusade of butchering high school students. In one gory scene, he gutted the quarterback, much to the Nerd’s delight. Ivan, however, was unimpressed.  
“That was such a poor use of tension right there! And those intestines, not even half convincing. Who is the director? He needs to be fired.”  
“Sorry, Ivan,” Jimmy turned around. “I’m sorry fucking Cletus McMeatus isn’t convincing enough for you.”  
Ivan totally missed the sarcasm. “That’s okay, Jimmy. If you’re into French cinema like me you get a keen eye for realism.”  
The film finished with a climactic fight between Cletus McMeatus and a redhaired sorority girl who had somehow lost her clothes in the brawl. She pushed Cletus into the meatgrinder and she turned to face the camera, panting.  
“ _Looks like this is the end. Or is it?”_  
Cletus’s laugh echoed in the meatgrinder and the credits began to roll.

“That was…something.” Pete said, rubbing his eyes.  
“Yeah. Trash.” Ivan stated. There was a murmur of agreement from some of the other boys.  
Norton interrupted. “I’m pretty sure that chick with the red hair does adult movies now.”  
“Really? What’re they called?” This came from Bucky who was swaying back and forth on his seat in interest.  
“You don’t wanna see ‘em. There’s tongs, tubing and an old man and I’ll leave it at that.”  
This was met with a collective groan and Jimmy stood up. “Right we’ve got a film about aliens or a film about Rome. Like a good leader, I’m letting you decide.”  
“Ah, a democracy!” Bucky declared. “Democracy is a device that ensures we—”  
“Changed my mind, we’re watching the Rome movie.” There was a triumphant ‘Yes!’ from Gary as Jimmy changed the tapes.  
“ _The Reign of Caesar!”_ The words were displayed on a panoramic view of ancient Rome and Gary grabbed his energy drink off the floor and took a sip. He’d be a nightmare the next day. The opening quickly cut to a shot of a gladiatorial arena, with muscular men in bronze armour fighting to the death. Jimmy would be lying if Gary’s thin-lipped smile wasn’t unnerving. Pete noticed it too and shifted closer to the edge of the couch.  
“These things used to be brutal,” Gary sighed. “We should really reintroduce them in the Hole.”  
“Yeah, no.” Jimmy replied curtly, the whole point of a movie night was to reduce violence on campus, not instigate it. Kirby Olson was also enthralled by the spectacle in front of him.  
“Do…do you reckon they changed sandals after each battle or did they only have one pair?”  
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Ricky interjected, throwing a filthy look.  
“Shut up, greaseball! I’m just askin’.”  
“Yeah, well, here’s your answer!” Ricky emerged from his corner and tried to get closer to Kirby but was restrained by Norton.  
“Pipe down! The Roman legionnaires are talking!” Gary was staring transfixed at the screen.  
“This movie blows. Put the alien movie on.” One of the nerds shouted. A discussion erupted in the common room and Jimmy could no longer decipher which voice belonged to who.  
“Your mom blows!” Came a reply.  
“Shut up!”

  
Insults began to hurl across the room with Jimmy and Pete exchanging confused and annoyed looks at each other. More profanity, more ‘your mom’ jokes and Norton lost his grip on Ricky and a fight broke out between him and Kirby. The Jocks and Greasers intervened, increasing the size of the brawl as other students surrounded them like vultures.  
“To hell with this!” Jimmy got up from the couch and picked up some of the abandoned snacks. Pete picked up his own bag of chips and followed. “You comin’ Gary?”  
“…no.” Gary was still watching the movie, eyes never leaving the TV set.  
“Whatever.” Jimmy shrugged, as he and Pete trailed off into his dorm room to finish off the food. Shouts and jeering echoed through the hallway and Jimmy kicked his door closed in frustration.  
“It was fun while it lasted, huh?” Pete said, half a smile on his face.  
“I guess some places ain’t cut out to be peaceful.” Jimmy said as he flopped on his bed, soda in hand.  
There was a sudden crash against the wall and a cry of outrage from Gary.  
“There goes the VHS player.” Jimmy groaned.

**Author's Note:**

> I always got a 90s vibe from Bully hence the VHS player. Maybe if it was set in 2018 they would have played Fortnite or whatever kids in 2018 do.


End file.
